Unmasking ICE agents is dangerous

To hear Democrats tell it, unmasking ICE agents is the patriotic thing to do. In reality, Democrats are just hoping to justify their doxxing of ICE agents. This LA Times op-ed/b> highlights the Democrats' flawed thinking. The LA Times op[-ed opensby saying "The images are jarring. Across the country, federal law enforcement officers in plain clothes and wearing ski masks and balaclavas are seizing and detaining protesters, students and even elected officials. These scenes evoke images of government thugs in violent regimes disappearing opponents."

What's intentionally omitted is that death threats against ICE agents have increased by 413% since President Trump took office. In President Trump's mass deportation program, ICE agents are rounding up the 'worst first', aka national security threats and the most violent criminal gangs. Telling us that we need to unmask ICE agents is the same as giving the world's most dangerous gangs the information to threaten ICE agents.

To make matters worse, politicians like Lamonica McIver, Hakeem Jeffries and Dan Goldman are threatening to dox ICE agents, thereby putting these ICE agents' lives in danger.

This foundational democratic norm is now at risk. In February, masked ICE officers in riot gear raided an apartment complex in Denver, one of the first times Americans saw agents hide their faces on the job.

Actually, the raid was in Aurora, CO, not Denver. That's the headquarters for Tren de Aragua, one of the most dangerous gangs in the world. Does this reckless reporter want ICE agents and their families put at risk?

That is why — not so long ago — one of us wrote a letter on behalf of the Justice Department to the police chief in Ferguson, Mo., to ensure that officers were readily identifiable during protests. This letter was sent by the federal government, in the middle of the federal civil rights investigation of the Ferguson Police Department, because ensuring this "basic component of transparency and accountability" was deemed too important to hold off raising until the end of the investigation. Exceptions have long been made for scenarios such as undercover work — but it has long been understood that, as a general rule, American law enforcement officers will identify themselves and show their faces.

The real problem is that these ICE agents are under President Trump's control. To these liberals, that's forbidden:

BTW, the Ferguson, MO investigation verified that the police in that city acted properly. The Holder Justice Department tried hard to find a civil rights violation but didn't find one. Try as they might, the Holder DOJ couldn't find an infraction against the Ferguson PD.

Though this isn't the same as defunding the police, it's similar enough. It's just the newest way to not support law enforcement. The reality is that Democrats haven't stopped looking for ways to not support the police. I don't think Democrats ever will stop looking for ways to impede the police.